The Florist
by JaninaM8
Summary: Loki is a florist. Jane is something else entirely.


"And then I would place the baby's breath here," Jane said as she placed said baby's breath in the flower arrangement she and Loki had been working on for the past hour.

He looked at her and smiled broadly, his green eyes alight with joy. "What would I do without you, Jane?"

"Oh, I am sure you'd muddle through," she told him and moved an errant piece of his black hair behind his ear.

"But just barely," her blond and broad-shouldered friend Thor said as he walked by with a watering can.

Loki shot him a look and was about to say something in return when the sound of a bell jangled, signaling that someone had entered his florist shop simply named "The Watering Can". Sometimes customers somehow mistook "Can" for "Hole" and thought his place was a bar. Upon entering, they would all usually say the same thing: "Why does this bar have so many flowers?"

"Customer," Loki said. "I better go."

Jane smiled and nodded. "We'll be here," she said brightly.

Loki kissed her cheek. "I know," he whispered and headed to the door that let him into the store from the greenhouse, which is where he currently was. He ignored Thor's look as he passed. Thor wasn't a big fan of Loki's, and he was even less of a fan of Loki's close relationship with Jane.

Loki didn't care. Jane was special. Thor was too, in his own right, as was all of Loki's little helpers, but not like Jane. Jane was special.

And Jane thought Loki was special, too. She moved closer to doorway and peered through, watching Loki talk to a beautiful woman with golden blond hair that was curled in ringlets. Her face was adorned with makeup that Jane thought was at once striking and too much. She was tall and lithe – almost the same height as Loki, though her spiked heels probably accounted for that.

"A regular?" Thor asked as he peered from the other side of the door.

Jane shook her head as she watched the woman touch Loki's arm and laugh. Jane felt something wither inside her when Loki smiled back at the woman. He smiled at a lot of people, all his customers, but there was something about this exchange that felt different to her.

"She likes him," Thor said.

Jane looked at Thor sharply.

His brows rose. "I'm just pointing out the obvious."

Jane looked back at Loki and the woman and while Loki showed her the bouquets and arrangements he'd done, she noticed how the other woman stood close to him and looked at him rather than at what Loki was showing her. He said something that made her laugh again, and this time Loki joined her in laughter. They fell in step together as they meandered along the rows of flowers.

Jane walked away. She'd seen enough. She stormed across the greenhouse, ignoring Thor calling out to her, and went to tend to the lilacs. She hummed softly as she worked, seeking to nurture the flowers as she attempted to calm herself.

She wasn't like that woman. She didn't wear makeup, didn't curl her hair. Hers was straight and brown and boring. Her eyes were caramel-colored, and though Loki often told her how beautiful her eyes were, now she felt perhaps he was just being kind.

"But we laugh together, too, Miss Lilac," she told the lush purple flower. "So what if she was well endowed. That means nothing, right?" Tears filled her eyes and she hunched over, making herself as small as possible as she hid among the flowers.

"Can I give you my card?" the woman named Sigyn asked Loki after he'd finished ringing her up her purchase. It was an arrangement Jane had done.

Loki furrowed his brow. "We don't have a bulletin board for businesses here—"

"No, I mean if you want to call me," Sigyn said. "And I want you to call me, Loki Odinson."

Loki forced himself to smile. He had known that she had been flirting with him while he'd showed her the arrangements and bouquets that made up his shop. He'd even found himself flattered. And attracted. But not in the sense that he wanted to pursue anything with her. How could he when there was Jane?

Loki took her card and nodded. That seemed to satisfy her and she winked before gathering her things and walking out. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Closing time. He went to the door, locked it, shut out the lights in the front of the shop and turned the sign on the door to "CLOSED". He then crumpled up the business card and tossed it in the trash.

Whistling, he made his way to the greenhouse that made up the "No Customers Allowed" area. It was where the magic happened. Literally.

He found his little helpers working hard. Knowing it was closing time, they hummed and sang a little louder and smiled at him as he searched for Jane.

He went up to Thor. "Where's Jane?"

Thor sprinkled something shiny and gold over the bush of roses he was tending to and looked up at Thor. "She saw you with that woman and was not happy."

"What are you on about?" Loki demanded.

"You were flirting with that customer and Jane saw it. She stormed off. I think she's with the lilacs."

Loki glared down at him. "I'm sure you did nothing to disabuse her of the notion that I was flirting."

"Weren't you?"

"Perhaps I was, but it meant nothing."

"How was I to know that?" Thor challenged him.

"You damn well do know it," Loki hissed and stormed off to the lilacs.

When he passed two long aisles of flowers and then turned down the one the lilacs were in, he noticed immediately that his Jane was definitely upset. The lilacs were wilting as if in sorrow. Loki didn't care about the state of his flowers, he only cared about the state of Jane.

"Jane? Jane, darling, please come out and speak with me," he called out to her softly.

He heard the sound of sniffles and slowly turned to face a bunch of lilacs. He found her there, tiny and leaning up against one of the pots.

"Jane, sweetheart, please come out and talk to me," he said gently.

She looked up at him and shook her head.

"Please, my love?" he begged. "Give me a chance to explain?"

Jane sighed and then stood. Her faery wings jutted out in a sparkle of purple and green and she flew out of the bed of lilacs. She grew to human size and stood before him. She would not look at him though. She kept her head down and her hands clasped before her against her short green dress.

Loki grabbed her hands and brought them to his mouth, startling her. She looked at him and he kissed her knuckles. "Jane, how could you think I wanted that woman?"

"I saw you," she said sadly. "You flirted with her."

"Harmless flirting. Yes, it was nice to be found attractive by a human woman, but it meant absolutely nothing to me."

"Don't you want to be with a human woman?" Jane asked, her big caramel-colored eyes studying him closely.

"No," he said. "I want you."

"It would be easier—"

"I don't care about easy. You own my heart, Jane. I only want you."

A slow smile spread across his Jane's lovely face and Loki found himself smiling in return. He put her hands on his shoulders and pulled her to him. He smiled against her lips. "I love you," he whispered. "I always have and I always will."

Jane smiled and then excitedly pressed her lips to his. Loki took over, guiding his inexperienced faery in how to kiss. When he'd taken over the florist shop and built the greenhouse, he had of course never expected a bunch of fey to show up. But show up they did, with Jane at the helm. The moment she'd presented herself to him in all her faery glory, wings and all, Loki had known his life would never be the same. And it hadn't been. For he'd fallen in love with a Faery Princess.

Her family and friends tended his flowers and he tended to them in cakes, honey, sugar water, and mead. They worked together side-by-side and though Loki was not always a fan of Thor's, he respected the male faery. Especially with how lush he made Loki's roses.

"Would you like to come up to my apartment?" Loki said. He lived right next door to his shop and sometimes Jane would visit him there.

She smiled shyly and nodded.

"Jane, one thing," he murmured.

"Yes?"

"Do you love me, too?"

Jane nodded and pressed her lips to his again. "Yes, Loki. I love you. I always have."

Grinning, Loki turned and wrapped an arm about her waist as he led her through the greenhouse. They both ignored Thor and his glares as they made their way to Loki's apartment for the night.


End file.
